HAPPY SITUATION OF MANSES. 43 



occupying such breadth, will grow well at any 

 height, and soon improve both soil and climate; 

 but spare yourself the misery of a strip, or clump, 

 or hedge-row, of which the branches, lying all to 

 one side like the rigging of a sloop, instead of 

 making you warmer, will only chill you by demon- 

 strating the effects of the incessant blast. As it 

 is easier to bear want than failure, be content with 

 bleakness; and of mental food, healthful exercise, 

 and the relish of beauty, even in the bleakest 

 season, there will be no want in your library, in 

 pastoral visitations, and the sight of clear blue sky, 

 glassy snow, the social circle, and a blazing fire. 



But circumstances so untoward as the above 

 described do but rarely attend the abodes of the 

 Scottish clergy. The kirk and manse are generally 

 objects of pleasing interest to the traveller. A 

 great advancement both of taste and liberality, on 

 the part of landed proprietors, appears in all the re- 

 cently erected churches of our picturesque country; 

 and the adjacent manse stands, amidst the grada- 

 tions of wealth, a model of the golden mean as if 

 Providence had chosen to illustrate, by his servants 

 in the Church, the wisdom of the prayer "give me 

 neither poverty nor riches. " The situation of the 

 manse is, for the most part, low, sheltered, and 

 beautiful, by the woody bank of lake or stream. 

 The country, being every where mountainous, 

 abounds, of course, in glens and rivers; and in 

 these romantic retreats are found the decent church, 

 and the peaceful-looking abode of the pastor. 



